Loss of Pediatric Beds Relative to Pediatric Population: The Hidden National Inequity Risk for Kids

Purpose: Nationally, there has been a loss of pediatric inpatient beds (-4.3%), and large swings in ward (-7.2%) and pediatric (non-neonatal) intensive care (PICU; +15.8%) beds over the most recently available ten-year period 2002-2011. These shifts have important implications for access, safety and costs yet studies on this topic are limited. Our goal was to identify variation in pediatric inpatient beds (change in absolute numbers and per 100,000 children) across states and …